From Family Roots to New Opportunities

From a farmhouse in the Tuscan countryside to the heights of international finance, Filippo Gori, Alumnus of the Year 2026, has experienced firsthand the power of education to transform lives and make it possible to build a future different from that of previous generations.

His story is rooted in Valdarno, where his grandfather, a sharecropper, did not complete his elementary education until he was thirty. His father Paolo had left school at the age of ten, but was the first to recognise the opportunities Bocconi could offer his son and encourage him to visit the University. That visit marked the beginning of a journey that would take Filippo, who graduated in 1999, to his current role as Co-Head of Global Banking at J.P. Morgan.

Today, together with his wife Silvia Pezzini, also a Bocconi alumna and a professor at Columbia University, Filippo has chosen to turn the opportunities they received into new possibilities for other young people.

The Gori-Pezzini Scholarship Fund was established through Friends of Bocconi University in memory of their fathers, Paolo Gori and Giovanni Pezzini. Each year, the Fund awards an undergraduate scholarship to a talented student from a disadvantaged background who comes from Valdarno or Valtellina—the regions where Filippo and Silvia grew up. By establishing an endowed fund, they have made this commitment lasting: returns on the capital will allow the support to continue over time, opening doors for generations to come.

This gesture embodies the vision of the Bocconi. A Place for the Future campaign: making high-quality education increasingly accessible through a community that chooses to invest in talent and the future.

Because the opportunities we receive can become the starting point for someone else’s.